Captain Alexander P. Ankeny had first crossed the plains to California
as early as 1848, a year before the big rush for gold, but he had returned
to West Virginia, via the Isthmus of Panama, in
1849.His first trip was apparently
a scouting trek to determine the truth of the stories of the golden opportunities
to be found in the west.He
must have been persuaded because in the early spring of 1850 he set out on
a return journey, this time bringing with him his wife Ruthanna, their children,
his brother and sister-in-law and three hired men.

The little party started with an immigrant train, but they fell behind
the others in Wyoming when Captain Ankeny assumed the operation of the ferry
over the Green River and ran it at considerable profit for six weeks in July
and August.He appears to have
been unable to resist an opportunity to make
money.When they returned to
the trail for California the favorable traveling season was nearly
ended.They discovered the grazing
lands were dry and depleted and good water was almost impossible to
find.The road to Oregon was
a far better route so Captain Ankeny changed his point of destination and
the group arrived in Portland in the late fall of 1850.

In December of that year, not long after they had arrived, Ruthanna
Ankeny died.The following year,
1851, Alexander Ankeny married a second time, to Mrs. Smith whose husband
had died on the Oregon Trail.She
had a young son, Levi, who was raised as a brother with the Ankeny children,
Henry and his sister.

An abundance of free land, a rapidly expanding population and the
demand for all kinds of goods made it a time when a shrewd investor could
realize quick and handsome returns on
speculation.Shortly after his
arrival Captain Ankeny took a donation land claim of 600 acres in Yamhill
County, purchased cattle and began raising
wheat.Even as this enterprise
was in a development stage, he began looking about for fresh
opportunities.He visited mines
in southern Oregon and northern California and established the first general
store in the Eugene area.Ankeny
remained in the Portland-Yamhill area and supplied merchandise for the business
which was located on a claim owned by Eugene
Skinner.One of the hired men
who had come west with the Ankeny party was in charge of the selling end
of the business.

In addition to these activities Captain Ankeny helped open a pack
trail to eastern Oregon gold mines via the Columbia Gorge -- later to become
the Columbia River Highway -- and maintained an interest in the Wells Fargo
Express Company. As he embarked on these new and demanding projects, he managed
to find time to enter county politics.

In 1856 after serving as captain of a troop of volunteers in the Yakima
Indian War -- where he acquired his title -- he sold his Yamhill property,
opened a meat market in Portland and built a splendid, richly furnished home
for his family.Acquiring property
throughout the city, he soon owned portions of several city blocks of valuable
real estate.Speculative investments
in mining projects throughout the Columbia River region also brought rich
returns.

He was one of the first to arrive at the site of Lewiston, Idaho,
the gathering point for miners en route to the
goldfields.Seeing at once the
vast potential, he opened the first store in that place, appointing his step-son
Levi as manager and his son Henry as his
assistant.He then returned
to Portland, bought the goods in demand by the miners and shipped them to
Lewiston to be sold at his store.
As mines in Idaho began producing,
the business, which was the prospectors only supply center, grew
rapidly.Levi soon made a fortune
and invested his money in Walla Walla where he became a banker, one of the
riches men in the state and a United States
Senator.Henry remained with
his father.

Captain Ankenys most ambitious project was the construction
of his theater and market complex.Portland at that time boasted a population of 10,000 and the city
fathers were justly proud of the streets, homes, stores and
hotels.Portlanders were ready
for an extensive public market and Ankeny was the guiding force of the
project.A massive brick building
was erected and its many stalls were furnished in taste and great style with
an emphasis upon marble counters and
fixtures.It proved to be extremely
successful and was a great asset to the
city.With the addition of the
New Market Theater, Ankenys block was the most impressive section in
the business district and served the citizens for many
years.Most of the complex is still standing although a north
wing of the center was demolished in the
1950s.The remaining part has
recently been sold to a group of developers who wish to restore it as part
of Portlands heritage.

There were times when Captain Ankeny dangerously over-extended his
assets and occasionally his entire fortune teetered precariously on the outcome
of a gamble.But he was a master
of the big bluff, had the Midas touch and always emerged as the
winner.As his holding flourished he became active in Portland
political circles.He served
on the city council and, in 1858, made an unsuccessful bid for the position
of mayor.

The Sterling Mining Company operation was an exciting new challenge
to Ankeny, still a man of boundless energy and the age of
56.The first years of operation were not particularly
successful.In order for the
men to work the rich upper creek region, the company had to extend the
ditch.Other developmental needs
made expenses heavy, and substantial salaries had to be paid to a constant
work force:blacksmiths, hydraulic
operators and ditch walkers and well as a large crew of unskilled workers
who were, for the most part, Chinese.

The third and fourth years brought more
profits.The amount of gold
sold to the mint in San Francisco was satisfactory and money was made by
the companys subsidiary operations; a general store, a boarding house
and a farm and stock ranch (cattle and pigs).

The gold field was no longer a place for casual
prospecting.The men were hired for specific tasks and they accomplished
them with energy and purpose.The
huge hydraulics slashed away at the earth and washed the dirt into gullies
where a gang of men with heavy mining equipment washed out the
gold.A crew of Chinese laborers
cleaned the newly exposed bedrock, painstakingly probing the crevices with
small-bladed knives and camel hair brushes.

Captain Ankeny reinvested his
profits.He bought the Kleinhammer
claim which adjoined the mine and he widened and deepened the
ditch.He also added a third
hydraulic giant.Whit these
improvements the Sterling mine became the largest hydraulic operation in
Oregon and possibly the largest in the entire
west.A huge headlight from
a locomotive enabled the men to work at night.

As he had anticipated the ups and downs, the severe winters and dry
summers, and the occasional flooding and freezing which damaged the flumes,
Ankeny was not taken by surprise when a year of great profit was followed
by a year of small return.His
faith in the enterprise was unshaken.In an 1885 interview with a reporter from the Portland Daily News,
who intimated that he had been taken, he said, I want nothing
better as a legacy for the Ankeny family than the Sterling
mine.As evidence of his
belief in its future, he ordered the construction of a large reservoir so
that sluicing could begin on the higher ground, and he bought the Saltmarsh
claim.He now owned almost all
of the land from the old town site to
Buncom.Of all the early
farmer-miners at Sterling, only Ed Graupner held on to his claim.

The mine became a sight-seeing
attraction.Visitors were taken
on special tours and everyone was awed at the sight of the giants violently
tearing away the hillsides and at the manner in which massive boulders were
forcefully moved out of the way.For ages the earth at Sterling had successfully resisted mens
efforts to pry into it; now the incredible machines were simply washing it
away.Its no surprise
that people came from far away to see
it.The little town which had lain dormant for years had at
last awakened just in time to witness its own annihilation.

After nine years of operating the mine, Captain Ankeny was joined
by his son Henry.Born in Virginia,
Henry was only six years old when he came
west.He apparently had inherited
his fathers dedication; as a boy he and his step brother Levi carried
orders on horseback from the store in Eugene to
Portland.Making the arduous
trip on a regular schedule, they often were given the responsibility of
delivering large sums of money even though each of them was eight years old
at the time.

In an unfinished diary, started at a much later date at the request
of a newspaper editor, Henry wrote of his early
experiences.

In 1887, summoned by his father, Henry sold his farm holdings and
moved his family to Sterling where he became supervisor and manager of the
mine.Families along Sterling
Creek had kept the school house in operation although sometimes all the pupils
had the same last name.With
the arrival of the Ankeny children the enrollment
doubled.A daughter, Cora, became
teacher for one term.

Almost as soon as Henry assumed his duties he faced
problems.A heavy cloudburst washed a farm house, and fence and
tons of topsoil into the companys diggings, and several miles of ditch
were filled with slides.Captain
Ankeny was undiscouraged.He
ordered complete repair of the damages, at considerable cost, and the year
ended with a deficit.

One problem which may have contributed to the loss was solved with
less expense.The Chinese crew
was under the supervision of a boss who saw that his workers were fed and
clothed.He also paid them their
small salaries.As contractor
for the crew he reimbursed himself by collecting their wages and he made
a little extra on the side by gambling and by a couple of other undercover
activities.This tinder-hearted overseer bought a new pair of trousers
for each man in his gang.By
some chance all of the trouser legs were to long and the men had to roll
them up from the bottoms.Eventually Henry became suspicious and, one evening as the Chinese
laborers were heading for their shacks, he ordered them to roll down their
trouser legs.The mud scraped
from the cuffs was panned out on the spot and revealed that each man was
carrying out of the mines every day an average of
$1.50.From then on the Chinese
worked in pants which were a little more neatly tailored.

In the winter of 1889 over three feet of snow fell on
Sterling.All mining activities
stopped.A heavy rain came after
the snow and the flood that followed brought
disaster.The derrick which
lifted the large boulders was smashed.Hydraulic pipes and the giants were buried in mud and rocks, and the
walls of the reservoir were washed out.The ditch was damaged all along its length.
Before the mine could be put
back into operation, the productive season had passed.

In August 1890 Captain Ankeny became critically
ill.He was taken to Portland
to be treated for softening of the
brain.He did not recover
and died in March 1891.The
mine was left to Henry and his sister.This brought no change in operations; Henry continued to act as manager
assisted by his brother-in-law, Vincent
Cook.In the years following,
the weather was more favorable and profits came up to expectations.

In 1894 proof of the success of the mine was revealed by Henrys
sending 50 ounces of nuggets to Salem to be put on display at the state
fair.Indication of prosperity
was also shown by the great number of rumors alleging that the company was
to be sold for fabulous sums of money.In addition to this evidence, a Portland banking house put on exhibit
in a gold pan nuggets weighting 350 ounces, ranging in size from $1 to $400
-- all from the Sterling mine.A
year later another showing of $10,000 worth of gold dust and nuggets was
featured in a Portland business
establishment.Henry Ankeny,
visiting San Francisco in 1896, told reporters that his mine was conceded
to be about the best placer property in
Oregon.The Ashland Tidings
estimated that the 1897 take was $75,000.

In her interview Cordelia Ankeny added, After each clean up
my husband melted the gold dust and nuggets into gold bricks, which he gave
to me for safekeeping.I had
a large number of flower pots.I
used to put a gold brick in the bottom of a flower pot and transfer a living
plant from some other pot into it.I doubt if a robber would ever have thought to look under a growing
and blooming geranium for a gold brick.

The season of 1900 was spectacularly
successful.In April the sluice
boxes produced seven nuggets valued at
$17,000.There were even larger
takes in July and August.As
the mine became more and more productive, Henry Ankeny began to extend his
interest into other activities.In
1904 he was selected as a member of the Republican delegation chosen to inform
Theodore Roosevelt that he was the partys
nominee.He was president of
the Medford National Bank and he became intrigued with the development of
irrigation systems in the Klamath Lakes
region.As he began spending
more time on his other interests he turned the operation of the mine over
to his son Frank, who became manager.

At last Ankeny and Cook began negotiating with a Roseburg promoter,
Fred J. Blakley, for sale of the mine.Arrangements were completed on 1904.
The amount the Ankenys received
was not revealed, but from his half share, Henry was able to invest $50,000
in Klamath irrigation projects.The new owners took over the property in early 1905, bringing the
Ankeny ownership to an end after a quarter of a century.

Capt. A. P. Ankeny, the well-known pioneer, died at Salem on the 24d
inst (24 March 1891).He was
born in Ligonier Valley; Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Deceased was
of the hardy and enterprising pioneers who assisted in "blazing the trail"
of west-bound civilization, and in laying broad and deep the foundation of
state empire.As early as 1850
Captain Ankeny started for Oregon.When he reached Green river with his family he halted for some time,
and built a ferry boat.He remained
there several months and found it quite a profitable investment to ferry
the west-bound emigrants across the
river.A great many surviving
pioneers of the state will remember the far-off time when Captain Ankeny
conducted the ferry at Green river.

In the winter of 1850-1 Captain Ankeny arrived in Portland with his
family.He built and moved into
a small house that fronted on what is now Oak Street, between First and
Second.He remained in Portland
only a short time, removing within a year to Yamhill County, where he settled
on a farm.He afterwards went
to the mines in Idaho, where he spent some
time.While in Yamhill county
Captain Ankeny married his second wife, Mrs. Smith, she was the mother of
Mr. Levi Ankeny, the captains step-son and adopted
son.His first wife was the
mother of three children; Henry Ankeny, Mrs. Randall and Mrs. Vincent
Cook.Henry is now living at
the Sterling mines in southern Oregon, Mrs. Randall near Lewiston and Mrs.
Cook at Brookfield, on the lower Columbia.

During the winter of 1856-57 Captain Ankeny returned to Portland with
his family.He built a house
at the corner of First and Ash streets, where he lived a number of
years.The old dwelling stood
on the southwestern corner of the block until a few years
ago.

Captain Ankeny was a man of tireless activities, and possessed of
remarkable tenacity of purpose.He
did not remain idle in this then new field of operation, inaugurating, in
1860, a steamboat enterprise in opposition to the regular line on the
Columbia.Only two boats were used - the old steam ferry boat
Independence and the little Wasco.In 1861-2, Captain Ankeny, Dr. D. S. Baker, H. W. Corbett and I. W.
Gates built the steamer Spray to run above The Dalles on the Upper Columbia
and Snake rivers.The Spray
was completed and ran on that route for about one year, when the owners sold
it to the O. S. N. Co.Captain
Ankeny was also connected with steam boating on the Upper
Willamette.About 1967 he owned
and ran the steamer Echo between Portland and point up the
Willamette.He and William Kohl
also brought the old steamer Cascade from Puget Sound to Portland.

During the Indian wars of 1855-6 Captain Ankeny took a very conspicuous
part.He was in command of the
second company of Yamhill volunteers, and rendered brave and effective services.

In 1864 his second wife died in this
city.Subsequently he married
Mrs. Staples, the widow of Captain Staples.

Captain Ankeny has always been one of the foremost public spirited
citizens of Portland, and has contributed many years of his vigorous manhood
to the building of the city and promotion of its best interests.

He has been connected with a number of important enterprises in Portland
during the past thirty years, and his name is intimately associated with
the history of the place.Early
in the 70s he built the New Market Theatre block and subsequently the
Central block, on Front Street.Some years ago he disposed of his property in Portland and purchased
the Sterling mines, located in southern
Oregon.For the past five or
six years he has been residing at the mines.

He was a man of generous qualities of heart, warm and impulsive, quick
and strong in his convictions, and firm is his personal
friendships.The news that this stalwart old pioneer is no more will
be received with sincere sorrow wherever his name is
known.--- Oregonian.